Skew

I usually like found footage movies but this one is a complete piece of nonsense, thanks to a very badly written narrative which leaves the viewer mired in a confused mess. The storyline involves a trio of friends going on a road trip and bringing along the inevitable video camera. After the slow first half, where we're introduced to these not very interesting people, the horror finally kicks in - what there is of it, anyway.

And this is where the film falls apart. There are dodgy ghostly visions of people and some of the characters go mad, but no real explanation is made. It's like there are a few events, spaced out, and a lot of ominous doom-mongering, but in the end little has really happened. I hated the incessant problems with the video camera which are vain attempts to make the whole thing scarier. It doesn't help that you actively dislike most of the main characters as well. I'm sorry, but the writer/director's refusal to provide clear explanations made me hate this one.

In the wake of found footage greats like Paranormal Activity, Grave Encounters, REC., Cloverfield etc. a movie like Skew automatically makes you have high expectations for it and be extra critical of it but I can thankfully say that Skew came pretty darn close at being in their league. The movie does have a pretty slow build up introducing us to three friends Simon, Rich and Eva on a road trip to a wedding, everything seems fine and dandy but tension soon builds when Simon starts seeing strange and unexplained images in his video camera that he brings along that makes faces of strangers that they encounter on the trip distorted and soon after tragic accidents involving the strangers that they meet occur. This movie has suspense throughout and an involving story filled with twists that will have you guessing and scratching your head til the very end but that is the film's major problem that there is more questions than answers and is one of those films that makes you come up with your own conclusions which I hate and is a shame because this movie had so much potential but the story seems unfinished. There are a few scares here and there and a lot of creepy and chilling scenes but nothing major enough to make you lose sleep over it but this movie is mostly story/character and suspense driven but then again an unknown movie with unknown actors and a limited budget it's pretty darn impressive and a gem even though it needs a little bit more polishing and fixing up the loosen ends. Overall it's like The Blair Witch Project meets Shutter meets Final Destination without the gore meets Tape but without any true, memorable scares and too many plot holes it makes you think what could of been especially with an intriguing and unsettling premise but it's definitely worth a look with patience and an open mind and low expectations. 6.6 out of 10

This is a low budget horror film. Plain and simple. But man, is it good. I never even heard of this film until I read some reviews about it on the net. Some good, some bad. So I was a bit hesitant to watch it but was pleasantly surprised. The thing that grabbed me was how smart it was. It didn't dumb things down for the audience and that's what I liked about it. It really made you think. It has an ending that leaves you hanging so I did some research and am sure I figured it out. The other thing that is pretty cool is the twist on this found footage thing. Skew is definitely not a found footage film. I went in thinking it was but when you hit a certain point in the film (which I can't really say as it may spoil it), you realize it isn't. First impulse was to say this film blew it because it doesn't follow the rules of found footage (like music) but when you realize it's not, then it totally makes sense. The film is slow and the scares are sparse, but that's not what this is about. It's about getting freaked out and being nervous - which is exactly what I felt. It's not fast-paced like some of the new horror films (which quite frankly aren't scary). It goes back to the route of what's scary and I like that. Don't be thrown off by the haters out there. The film is good and well worth your time if you want to turn your brain on. If not, go see something more mindless.

There really isn't a whole lot to say about Skew. The entire film is a budget PoV single camera piece in the same style as the Blair Witch Project. While the Blair Witch Project did has some generally creepy scenes, Skew really does not. What it does have are a lot of dead scene that drag on and on.

The plot is centered around a camera which seems to be able to mark people who are about to die. Only the film's protagonist and cameraman, Simon, can see the blotches which obscure the faces of those about to be killed. Once it becomes apparent to Simon and his friends that something is terribly wrong with the camera, a considerable portion of the rest of the film are just scenes where Simon's friends try to get him to stop filming and Simon makes really lame excuses to keep filming.

The film isn't even 90 minutes long, but I wasn't even half way through it by the time I started to feel like it was just dragging on way too much. To cap it all off, there's a lame plot twist at the end which most people will see coming from the start of the movie. Yes, it's that predictable.

The only thing that I find interesting about the film is that fact that it's quite short yet drags on and on, making it seem like a much longer movie. I don't know if this originally started off as a short film project, but I feel like that's the only way it ever could succeeded. Cut out a solid 50 minutes and make it a short film. It might be more watchable then.

I recently went to Fear Fete Horror Film Festival in Baton Rouge and got to see this little horror film. While most found footage films seem to go in for the shock value, Skew is a refreshing change and actually takes its time to draw the viewer into its warped world of creepiness.

The movie starts off with three friends, Simon and cute couple Eva & Rich, going on a roadtrip. The fact that Simon's girlfriend refuses to join them already sets the tone for some tension which just increases as the trip goes on. One thing is for certain, Simon has issues. Those issues revolve around an unhealthy obsession with a video camera.

The video camera is always running. And while Rich and Eva start running out of patience with their obsessive friend, Simon, evil events start to ruin their roadtrip.

First off, let me start by saying that the acting was great. It felt very real and authentic. They captured that feeling of initial excitement and then inevitable annoyance from being around the same people day in and day out. Especially with Simon due to his paranoid behavior.

The story is simple enough, yet what is happening with the video camera is much more complex. I was trying to figure out what was going on during the entire screening and while I definitely had my own theories, the film does an excellent job of explaining it without knocking you over the head with the answers.

The director gives the audience a lot of credit for being smart. If you don't pay attention the whole time, you just won't get it. The ending will not make sense or it might even make you mad. A second viewing might definitely be necessary for dummies who didn't pay attention the first time. I would love to see it a second time to just make sure that everything pays off correctly.

Though there aren't a ton of scares, the caliber of these scares was good. Especially one certain one which I will not give away (but you'll know it as soon as you see it). The sound and visual effects of the camera were very inventive and while I've seen some of them recreated in other movies lately, it says a lot that since Skew was made in 2005 (not to mention without the Hollywood budget), that this director wasn't copying anyone, but using his creative flair to make a true indie movie.

A valiant first feature debut and I hope to see more from this guy soon.